Problem with track48 serial YA Royal Mail

[yourstampsuk]

I bought a track48 label through eBay and this morning a nice lady at the Post Office said that track48 with the YA number is not accepted and that I should contact the seller. does anyone have a similar problem? did ebay uk sell me a fake label?

[crafty_cat_lover]

If you read post 17 by the-fragrance-boutique they had the same problem with a label that was bought through click and collect and nothing to do with Ebay.

I realise some people would like to blame all problems on Ebay SD but this one is down to the Post Office software.

[bizzy-lizzy99]

Or you could just click the edit button next to the tracking number . 

[petej04]

Canceled all rm labels and diverted to yodel for now.

On the plus side will out least get them out tomorrow..

On the minus side expect will spend next week dealing with inr's and damaged parcels...

Can't win would be nice if the system worked for once without all this palarva..

One can dream I guess .. broken britain!

[bizzy-lizzy99]

I'm a business seller so don't use Simple Delivery and it's the same for me. 

[bizzy-lizzy99]

I would agree. Purely the PO counter software ie Horizon. Someone posted that although the YA tracking number didn't scan at the PO it updated at the Hub. I'm very tempted to just drop them off to-morrow and trust that they update once they get scanned at the hub.

[t.bag54]

Could you please advise.  The buyer paid for postage costs and the simple delivery label was not accepted at post office because of the new YA code.  I bought my own postage label at post office to get the purchase to the buyer asap.  Now I read the buyer gets a postage refund and the seller doesn't so I have paid the postage costs.  Am I right  ?  Any help would be very much appreciated.

[t.bag54]

Same thing here yesterday (Saturday). 

I agree - Simple Delivery not so simple after all !! 

[goodibags]

But Ebay is the supplier of defective postage labels to its sellers and literally hundreds if not thousands of users (both sellers and their buyers) have been inconvenienced and quite possibly annoyed. Many of whom will be inconvenienced and annoyed further by the cumbersome process of having to claim refunds from Ebay (NOT Royal Mail) and dealing with the fallout from subsequent delays.

Given how Ebay is supposedly managing everything I'd suggest it's an Ebay problem to sort out, even if it's merely one of Ebay's suppliers that's at fault. 

Hopefully it'll be fixed within the next 2 or 3 weeks.

[**the_beatles**]

Message on the bottom of page when clicking on EBay help and contact link on the top of main page states the following :-

The Post Office is experiencing issues with Royal Mail T48 labels (print in store and at home). We expect resolution by Monday, 4th August. Meanwhile, send parcels using alternative locations like Collect+ and Lockers.

[crafty_cat_lover]

Ebay is the supplier of SOME of the labels, none of which were defective as those of us who used parcel postboxes or similar and avoided the Post Office have not had a problem. Some posters on here have bought via Royal Mail click and drop and had a problem at the Post Office and their labels were not supplied by Ebay.

And I assume you've got details of these supposed hundreds if not thousands of users affected?

Or was I correct in stating that some posters are determined to blame Ebay SD for everything even when it is a Post Office problem!

[hubsteruk]

That's what I did yesterday. Dropped off at the PO (scanning issue) and the tracked # has already been scanned and updated in Royal Mail's system. The update even shows in eBay now

1. Sun 3 Aug

   9:08am
   Item Received
2. Sat 2 Aug

   6:25pm
   Item Received
3. Sat 2 Aug

   10:43am
   Sender despatching item
4. Sat 2 Aug

   1:39am
   Tracking number provided

[hubsteruk]

My hunch is that Horizon has an issue with incoming data via e.g. eBay and the POs are not receiving that data i.e. invalid tracking. Once the parcel is with Royal Mail and scanned at the MC, it's as if there isn't an issue 

[goodibags]

You seem convinced that Simple Delivery doesn't exist and that anybody who has been massively inconvenienced by not being able to post a parcel this weekend actually hasn't been (because what happened didn't)?

What can I say? Except to suggest (a)  SD DOES exist and (b) it's NOT currently working.

Therefore Ebay needs to fix it as a matter of urgency.

[crafty_cat_lover]

I am well aware that SD exists and I am using it without any problems as are many others. Yes I am aware of the problem with the tracking numbers over the weekend but, as I and others have already explained, that is a Post Office software problem not an Ebay problem.

But hey, keep trying to blame Ebay.

[eastern-lights]

One slightly off topic observation I would make, wherever the fault lies, is that it's another case of making an insufficiently tested change (assuming it was tested at all) on a Friday (in this case introducing YA prefixes) and IT support disappearing for the weekend. Further up someone quoted Ebay as saying they expect the problem to be fixed on the 4th (today). Yep, sounds reasonable. IT support come into work, have a cup of coffee and a doughnut, change one line of code and it'll be fixed.

But why do so many companies introduce changes on Friday afternoon?

[goodibags]

I'm merely suggesting that Ebay, as the supplier of the postage label, is the owner of the problem it's causing. If you received a dodgy product from Ebay wouldn't you likely complain about that too? 

Luckily, my sales are non-existent, so I haven't been affected. But hundreds of Ebay users have been.

On the plus side, as overall sales tend towards zero so too major system faults will tend to have a negligible effect? 😉

[fashionreborn]

***Update***

I dropped 20 parcels off direct to the main Royal Mail delivery hub there now, and all were scanned without any issue and tracking instantly updated on ebay 

So the issue is 100% with the Post office software being used at the counter, and not ebay or the Royal Mail tracking systems behind the scenes

[eastern-lights]

---

@goodibags wrote:

I'm merely suggesting that Ebay, as the supplier of the postage label, is the owner of the problem it's causing. If you received a dodgy product from Ebay wouldn't you likely complain about that too? 

Luckily, my sales are non-existent, so I haven't been affected. But hundreds of Ebay users have been.

On the plus side, as overall sales tend towards zero so too major system faults will tend to have a negligible effect? 😉

---

What do you expect Ebay to actually do about the problem?

Ebay did not change the tracking number change, they may not have even been aware of it. Ebay's IT system handles it. They have provided advise as to work arounds, as has this discussion group.

To be clear, I'm happy to give Ebay a kicking when they muck up, but this is not one of those times.

[goodibags]

It seems to be the new way of doing stuff. Releasing a completely untested 'enhancement' and letting the users attempt to use it as far as they can and give feedback as they do so. Hopefully it won't completely fall on its face.

For all we know, in IT parlance it's probably now called 'doing an Ebay'? 😁

[magee1976]

I for one very much enjoyed your post. Made me giggle (especially the donut bit) ... also hoping you are correct and that my journey to the Post Office later will end as needed! Thanks.